U2 Receives Sonny Bono Visionary Award

From Bono to Bono: this past weekend, U2 was honored with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. This award is not typically awarded to bands, but their track “Ordinary Love” for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom made them unique exceptions.

Festival chairman Harold Matzner spoke highly of the band’s humanitarian work: ”We normally present the Sonny Bono Visionary Award to a director, but for our 25th anniversary we wanted to take the occasion to celebrate U2, a visionary group and the world’s premier rock band, for their unparalleled humanitarian work against extreme poverty, disease, and social injustice.”

Bono and Edge were present at the festival to accept the award. Bono spoke reflectively about his position as an artist with political ambitions. “I do understand that people find it insufferable when artists stray from their box, but for a lot of us in this room that is the definition of being an artist. It is worth mentioning that more people live off of their imaginations than anywhere in the world.”

Edge was merely surprised by the scope and beauty of the gala itself. “It was amazing…we’ve been kind of what we describe as ‘being on the oil rig’ for the last while. We’ve been in a recording studio working very closely with a very small group of mostly males, so to come out to such a glamorous event — the red carpet and all these beautiful ladies and their amazing dresses and the photographers and everything — it was kind of overwhelming…we were suddenly — ‘Oh, I remember this now.’”

“We don’t get out much,” Bono agreed.